By IANS,
London : International Cricket Council’s (ICC) President David Morgan has condemned Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi’s offer of $40 million to cash strapped Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for the long term release of their players for IPL next year.
Morgan in an interview to The Daily Telegraph, said the deal Modi proposed to Sri Lanka last week was “quite unacceptable behaviour against the background of Sri Lanka’s signed agreement with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)”.
As per the deal, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will be sending its team for the IPL league for the next 10 years.
The five-member Sri Lankan cricket delegation will arrive in India Oct 18 to finalise the deal with IPL, the country’s sports minister Gamini Lokuge had said Saturday.
The deal, if ratified, would force the abandonment of Sri Lanka’s Test series in England in May.
Morgan pointed out that only last month the “ICC reaffirmed the primacy of Test cricket with the unanimous agreement of all Full Members.”
“Everyone signed up to the order of priorities, starting with ICC events like the World Cup,” he said.
Sri Lanka’s 13 best cricketers are contracted to the IPL. Their IPL salaries are many times higher than what they receive from their own board for international cricket. None would want to miss the IPL final, which is to be staged on May 25, or the semi-finals, or the qualifying round which is due to end on May 19 or 20.
The ECB would expect to receive compensation of around two million dollars from Sri Lanka if they cancel the tour.
If Sri Lanka sends its second rung team to England, it would be liable to suspension from ICC and international cricket for “non-acceptable non-compliance”; but India commands the votes to prevent a ban, the report said.
India has also agreed to play another tri-nation series in 2010 which will bring in additional money to SLC.